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Re: History....and we all know Archivists are NOT historians



> I'll raise ya and call ya. During my first trip to Saudi Arabia for Aramco I
> was able to hold the original concession agreement made between Socal (now
> Chevron) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that allowed Socal the right to
> explore for oil on the Arabian peninsula. Boy talk about getting shaky hands
> and wet palms holding that document.

Aw hell, I got ya all beat -- many times over. I have held a Frederick
Douglass autograph letter in my hand, cataloged imperial decrees signed
and sealed by Marie Theresa, browsed through the love letters of Dorothy
Thompson and Sinclair Lewis, unfolded the hand-colored William Withering
foxglove plate in situ, and photographed more 15th- to 19th-century rare
books than I can remember.

And what's more, I know dozens of people in this field who've got me
beat. But that's the thrill of it all. Preserving these important
documents for centuries so that future people like us can fondle 'em!

Cheers!

Eric

--

Eric v. d. Luft, Ph.D., M.L.S.
Curator of Historical Collections, Health Sciences Library
SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210
<http://web.upstate.edu/lufte/> -- 315-464-4585
Listowner: ALHHS-L <http://web.upstate.edu/lufte/alhhs-l.html>
For e-mail pertaining to libraries, librarianship, or the history of
 medicine, please use <lufte@mail.upstate.edu> not <lufte@upstate.edu>
For all other e-mail, please use: gegensatz@sprintmail.com

                              *****

"Be always sure you're right, then go ahead."
                                          -- Davy Crockett
                                [Autobiography, 1834, title page]

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